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if you are going to be doing alot of 4x4ing in the mud and going off road the jeep 2010 4 door jeep wrangler unlimited is great off road up there with the hummer H1 for off road ability from the factory
I'm not planning on using this vehicle for any real off-roading. I just travel to the mtns in NM on occasion and encounter some snow and mud up there. The RAV4 with the I4 engine just seems like a fuel efficient vehicle to deal with those situations.
BTW, I like Jeeps, but they're no longer available with the 4cyl. Besides, they're meant for a lot tougher conditions than I'll encounter.
The RAV4 has so much creaky flex and poor suspension it's like a pot of spaghetti. We used to eat up tires and sometimes burn one down the belts in an hour. And we used a number of brands(yoko, bridgestone, michelin). It's also so damn scary to drive at speed and uncomfortable we had a number of people barf.
Do an emergency lane change in one compared to it's competitors and it will be very visible how bad the RAV4 is.
I have also tested the various dynamic control systems on these vehicles on ice and gravel for again thousands of laps and the Toyota system is SLLLLOOOWWWW. The Nissan and Subaru get on top of the problem right away and the Toyota has a noticeable delay of a second or two.
I took a RAV4 out for an extended (50 mi) test drive the other day, including some rough country roads. It handled very well. I didn't experience any of the symptoms you mentioned. I also drove a Forester yesterday. Nice car, but didn't have the ground clearance of the RAV4.
Maybe you're referring to a previous year's RAV4 model.
I took a RAV4 out for an extended (50 mi) test drive the other day, including some rough country roads. It handled very well. I didn't experience any of the symptoms you mentioned.
The one model of RAV4 I didn't care for at all was the Sport model - 18" wheels and run-flats, at least on the roads around here, were not a pleasant combination.
A lot of the cars I looked at had 18" and 20" wheels on them (like the Ford Edge and the Toyota Venza), and while that gets an increase in cornering ability (assuming the tires are designed for it), it makes the ride unpleasantly harsh.
You obviously know nothing about what you think you do. The Rav is a very competent handler and has proven itself over and over on just about every comparison done by every car magazine out there., We have one and its one of the best cars we have ever owned. Does not eat tires, (have 36 k on the original tires) There is not delay in the stability system,. Take this from an SAE engineer.. heres some tests where it came out on top.. every time.
Oh I obviously do if you saw my resume. I have done over 10000 hard laps in these vehicles and their competitors. We ate up tires on the RAV4 doing the same tests at the same speeds.
Car and Driver is a magazine with their own methodology and few on the staff anymore that know anything about driving or vehicle dynamics.
The Forester has 8.7" of ground clearance. 8.9" in the turbo model. The rav4 has 7.5"
The Forester (and the RAV4) I drove were both 2009 models. I think the 2010 Forester was raised an inch or so above last year's model. In any case, side by side, it was obvious that the RAV4 I drove had more clearance. I dunno - maybe the tires weren't original.
The Forester (and the RAV4) I drove were both 2009 models. I think the 2010 Forester was raised an inch or so above last year's model. In any case, side by side, it was obvious that the RAV4 I drove had more clearance. I dunno - maybe the tires weren't original.
It could have been an 18" wheel swap as well and likely the tires have been swapped out..
The RAV4s come with Yokohama Geolanders (well, most of them do) and they are, IMO, awful tires with terrible tread life. Since I live on a 2 mile, uphill gravel road and we get snow in winter, I replaced the tires with snow-rated tires and this summer I'll buy another set of rims and get summer tires (actually probably all-season, slightly "sport" tires).
The Forester (and the RAV4) I drove were both 2009 models. I think the 2010 Forester was raised an inch or so above last year's model. In any case, side by side, it was obvious that the RAV4 I drove had more clearance. I dunno - maybe the tires weren't original.
the 09 forester and 2010 forester have the same clearance.
My brother has an '07 RAV4 with the 4 cylinder/AWD. He gets real good gas maileage (about 25 mpg combined) and he claims it does better off-road than you'd imagine. I've ridden in it a few times and it's comfortable. Never accompanied him off-road, though.
I live in an area with a ton of bad dirt roads. Or no roads when they wash away in the Monsoons. I'm not trying to climb a tree, just get from here to there. Handles great. Is peppy as all get-out. It even makes a pretty cool under-the-hood growl when I punch the gas.
You know how we all mis-judge parking spaces and hit the curb? (Admit it. Everyone does this once in awhile.) The Rav doesn't hit the curb. It goes up over it. Kind of fun.
I crew on long-distance horse rides in all sorts of terrain and haven't had one complaint with the way the car handled as I bumped along.
And I've had to "emergency lane change" to avoid being rear-ended by the idiot in back of me who wasn't paying attention to the fact that traffic had stopped. Hit the gas and manuvered into the emergency stop lane. I was impressed by how well the car responded. In fact I was thrilled.
The car is a good as its driver a lot of the time.
Oh, and the ride is comfy. I've driven it between LA and Phoenix a bunch of times and have never gotten the cramp in the legs some cars give me.
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